The Fairlady gave it her all this weekend at Phoenix Intl Raceway, making it
onto the track for 7 out of 10 of it's scheduled events (6 practices, 1
qualifier, 3 races). We had great weather, mornings in the 50's, afternoons
in the high 70's, sunny skies. It makes up for the stifling summers. Day 1
I missed the first practice of 4 because it started at 8AM while I was still
unloading, but the remaining three went well. The high RPM WOT miss was
fixed with bigger jets and smaller needles, it was a 6000 RPM lean condition
I mentioned after my last race wknd. Saturday's practice ended a couple laps
early as she was starting to run hot, replacing the thrown fan belt was a
quick fix. Qualifying ended after the first lap, I got blackflagged for a
loose left rear tire (great eyes from a cornerworker). Don't know which came
first, but I had a couple loose lugnuts and a broken wheel stud. If you are
running wheel spacers, check those wheel torques regularly!! Les from
Classic Datsun Motorsports gave me hand and a few good ideas, and after an
axle removal and a parts run into town for some wheel studs (I replaced them
all), the car was ready to race... about 15 minutes after my afternnon sprint
race started. Almost made it, but at least we were all in one peice.
Sunday's practice was driven by my co-driver for the one hour enduro. He
drives Craftsman Trucks in the NASCAR series, so drving a 100 HP slotcar was
a real change of pace for him. He drove the first 20 minutes of the enduro,
and came into the pits with a flat. We got the tire changed and I went out
for the remaining 1/2 hour. Best track time I've ever had, put together some
really good laps dicing with an old 911 (faster car, slower driver). She
rolled into the pits steaming after the checkered flag, a blown H2O pump
seal had let the water go and I hadn't noticed the gauge being pegged. I had
a spare pump and gasket, but didn't feel like another 2 hour wrenching flog,
so I loaded her up happy with my new best time at PIR (1:23), but missing
Sunday's sprint race.
I met several Datsun people, happy (and suprised) to see a drum-braked 1500
Fairlady in race trim. I learned alot more about my car and what it will
take for future endurance events. Now if Santa can show me where to hide the
Nitrous, maybe we'll give a few of them Lotus's and Porsche's a run for the
money next year ;-)
Troy
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